Constable (Perfect Squares)

Constable (Perfect Squares) by Grange Books
English | January 1, 2006 | ISBN: N/A | ASIN: 9781840137606 | 80 pages | EPUB | 3.91 Mb
John Constable is arguably the best-loved English artist. His fame and popularity are rivalled only by those of his great contemporary, J. M. W. Turner. But like Turner, his reputation rests on a handful of very well-known paintings, normally Suffolk scenes such as Flatford Mill (p. 35) or the Hay-Wain (p. 48). The latter in particular is so famous that it sometimes overshadows the rest of his work, whereas we know from Constable's writings that he set greater store by his Stratford Mill, and once declared that it was Salisbury Cathedral, from the Meadows (p. 71) rather than the Hay-Wain which best embodied 'the full compass' of his art. For all its fame, even the Hay-Wain itself is misunderstood. It is so familiar that it is hard for a modern spectator to grasp the enormous impact it had upon some of the greatest French painters of the day. In order fully to appreciate Constable's achievement, one must first attempt to clear away some of the many misconceptions surrounding his work.